VC4A, a leading entrepreneurship ecosystem builder, recently selected 10 women-led startups to participate in its prestigious Venture Showcase program. This is VC4A’s second edition for Latin America.
This flagship initiative has had eight successful cohorts across Africa and LatAm, enabling 114 participating startups to collectively raise more than USD 850M in funding to date. Building on the momentum from previous cohorts, VC4A kicked off the three-month program with a Technical Residency in Bogota, where one of the participants received significant investment interest from investors, while being selected to pitch at the Startco closing event.
From the 2024 LatAm program, meet the women-led startups according to their fundraising track:
Series A Track
Chattigo is an Omnichannel B2B SaaS Platform that integrates, controls, and enhances customer communications.
An Agrifintech social enterprise that connects groups of unbanked smallholder farmers with the financing necessary to work their lands and sell their crops in direct markets.
Quipu works with SMEs to provide working capital loans through a supply chain financing system.
Pre-Series A Track
A digital learning platform that creates educational tools with XR+AI learning resources to improve early childhood education.
Sofi is an AI-driven debt collection platform designed to revolutionize how businesses manage their receivables.
Seed Track
KredFeed offers an automated receivables-based financing platform, enabling suppliers in the value chain to unlock their cash flow by turning their receivables into instant cash.
A platform that provides compliance and risk management in an automated, centralized and collaborative way, minimizing costs and saving time.
Pre-Seed Track
A Biotechnology company based in Argentina that created non-toxic biocapsules to eliminate the use of chemicals in various industries, specifically in agriculture and the food industry, thereby safe for humans and the environment.
A platform that allows restaurants and stores to reduce their food waste. Instead of throwing away their surplus quality food, they can now sell it through Cirkula.
An Agro-Fintech that transforms access to formal financing for small agricultural producers.
The Technical Residency in Bogota, the official Kickoff of the program
The VC4A Venture Showcase program kicked off with an on-site Technical Residency for the 10 founders in Bogota during the week of 11-15 March 2024. The residency included workshops, talks, pitching sessions, and mentoring at the prestigious EAN University and culminated at StartCo 2024 – the region’s premier startup event.
Highlights of the week included a talk with the Colombian founder Daniela Izquierdo (Foodology), who has raised more than USD 50M. This was followed by a Triple Impact workshop and later, an invite-only Demoday with funds like Ewa Capital, Inqlab, Flori Ventures, Bios Ventures and Alaya Capital.
At StartCo, one of the cohort participants, Mili Romano (Vexxel), was invited to pitch to a selected group of investors, in front of thousands of spectators. Within 15 minutes of pitching, Vexxel was able to generate significant interest among investors. Here is Mili’s testimony of her experience:
“The Technical Residency in Bogota organized by VC4A exceeded all my expectations. In biotech, it’s assumed that to raise capital, we must talk to funds in the USA or Europe. It’s sad because in Latin America, we have all the talent to drive local initiatives and go global.
It’s gratifying to see how things can happen locally when you receive the right support. Many thanks to VC4A, EAN, FMO and the IFC, for helping us get there and pushing for everything to happen.”
What’s next for the VC4A Venture Showcase participants?
From April to May 2024, the 10 women-led ventures will have access to one-on-one mentorship, attend masterclasses on fundraising strategies and tailored technical sessions specific to their company development and growth. All the resources will be delivered by the investors supporting the program. The program will close with virtual DealRooms for each startup with more than 50 participating fund managers invited.
How has the Venture Showcase been successful in supporting entrepreneurs to raise over USD 850M in capital?
The program aims to provide participants with the visibility, training and connections they need to successfully raise capital.
The Venture Showcase methodology is based on high investor involvement at each stage of the program, from application referrals and reviews, to the training delivery and the closing Dealrooms with a view to investing.
VC4A has a strong network of more than 1,400 investors in Africa and Latin America, and more than 50 fund managers from all across the Americas are participating in the program, where 45% of the participating investors are women.
All of this wouldn’t be possible without the strategic partnerships that VC4A leverages for each edition. This year the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have backed the program for Latin America. In addition, EAN University hosted the activities for the Technical Residency in Bogota and Startco opened its doors for the cohort participants to develop their networks in Colombia.
About VC4A:
VC4A is an ecosystem builder that leverages its infrastructure, network, and expertise for the programs that contribute to the startup development in emerging markets. Since 2007, the organization has designed, structured, and implemented successful entrepreneurship programs. VC4A runs an online platform featuring the ecosystem’s largest database of startups in Africa and Latin America, connecting the entrepreneurs of these regions to resources, networks, and funding. Visit vc4a.com and latam.vc4a.com for more information.
For media inquiries, please contact Boyewa Abiodun-Adepoju. For partnerships or to receive the DealBook for each company, please contact Alejandra Paniagua.